In order to fly, you need enough thrust to overcome gravity. While the idea of propelling yourself through the air using the power of farts is, admittedly, somewhat juvenile, you need a bit of skill negotiating the Puzzle Farter.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

There are stickers you can put on windows in your house to alert firefighters that the room contains children. There are also window stickers to let firefighters know that there are pets in your domicile.

But what about us geeks? We need stickers that indicate OUR children need to be saved! Won't somebody think of the computers?

Besides, it only makes sense, environmentally speaking. You don't want all those cables and batteries and circuit boards burning; they produce toxic gases and smoke.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sergei Frolov lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, speaks (or at least types) passable English, and is very proud of his assemblage of mostly Russian electronics. The cornerstone, though, is his Soviet Calculators Collection. He even has a handy "Start surfing here" link on the main page.

While looking through the pictures, I had to admire the plucky "create our own version" mentality of the Soviet inventors and designers.

The play of this game is nothing special: you pilot an Asteroids-ish spaceship and shoot everything that moves. The fun part is that you get to draw your own spaceship. As you level up, you can buy add-ons. It's fun to draw your new guns on your own spaceship!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

It seems that the more we develop and depend on technology to live our lives and get our work done, the more time we spend wrestling with it to actually try to live our lives or get our work done.

You know how when a program crashes, you get that dialog that says (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Your program has gone tits-up and has to close. Would you like to tell Microsoft about it?" I always click the "Don't Send" button.

I would much rather this dialog have the option for you to enter two values: Time Spent Running the Program, and Time Spent Getting Actual Work Done. THAT would be valuable information about today's efficient technology worker.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Cell phones (or mobiles, for you cross-ponders) have transformed our lives in so many ways. One would be the ability most of us now have to snap a picture of moments that would previous have been lost forever.

Laser pointers are fun, but after you annoy the cat and get thrown out of a concert for painting a spot on the singer's forehead, what can you do with one? How about turning your next social gathering into a disco party?

What's one of the biggest problems to storing a bicycle? The handlebars! No information about price or availability, but these folding handlebars are awesome.

Charlie the Unicorn is back with episode 2. Doesn't quite capture the quirky fun of the first one.

Here's a game you play against someone else online. It's meant for kids, which makes it all the sweeter when you crush them with your superior intellect. Or will you? Find out who's the better speller as you race against the clock with tutpup.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

It turns out that the "office worker goes batshit" video in last week's Activity Corner is actually a viral video posted by the director of the upcoming movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie. I'm not sure who broke the news, but Cinematical gets my vote for best coverage, with a link to the director's own very, very Russian blog.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Anyone with Windows knows about MS Paint, the computer graphics equivalent of finger painting. Yes, some people can do amazing things with it, but most of us can't. Which is what makes this next one fun... he's somewhere in the middle.

How well do you know album covers? Because Flickr user "last rites" does his best to recreate album covers (while not getting in trouble, by altering the band name and album title) in his cover art series.

This is not the typical Friday game you've come to know and love here, but it still should be a fun exercise because it involves audience participation. It's the Random Band Generator Game. Here's how you play:

Go to Wikipedia and in the upper left "navigation" box, click "Random article". This is your band name.

Go to the Random Wodehouse Quote Page for a (duh) random quote. Use no more than 8 words at the beginning of the quote. You can use fewer than 8, just not more. This is the album title.

Go to the Flickr Explore page for a random picture. This is your album cover.

In the comments, post your band name and album title, and link to the picture (right-click on the picture, select Copy Shortcut, paste into comment).

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The internet is the cutting edge of technology. It's also an archeological dig. Poking around forgotten corners, you can find sites that have been up for a decade (or more). These sites also confirm that weirdness on the internet is nothing new. And that people will collect almost anything.

Case in point: The World Famous Asphalt Museum. Marvel at the cutting-edge web page technology, and the state-of-the-art computer hardware on display. Oh, you must take the Grand Tour!

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

I'm just a wee, tiny cog in a huge, global machine. And nothing can quite destroy all your company's mission statements and feel-good HR hype like a dose of good old-fashioned reality.

My company has done away with paper pay stubs. Ok, no big deal, right? Except in the course of trying to get hooked up with the online systems that support this new paperless wondersolution, I'm stymied at every turn. After working here a year and a half, I find out that I need four separate accounts and passwords. Email, VPN, Payroll, and intranet. So far, I have the email one. At least I'm still getting paid, even if I have to look it up in my online banking.

I've been on the phone to the helpdesk the last few days, and they promise me they're "working on it" and "escalating the ticket". I kinda feel like Indiana Jones at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Maj. Eaton: We have top men working on it now. Indiana: Who? Maj. Eaton: Top. Men.

Monday, June 02, 2008

It bills itself as the "massively multiplayer word association 'game'". And it is both intriguing and addicting.

It's pretty simple, really. They show you a word right above the entry field. Type the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you see the word. Then, on the right, you see how many (or few) other people had the same connection. Repeat.

Part of the fun is typing your association as quickly as you can, and the other part is analyzing the results.